Hungary - About the Country

Hungary is a traditional cave country, the caves of Hungary were explored since the 19th century. There are numerous famous scientists from Hungary which worked in cave and mine related topics. But Hungary was one of the two heads of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and with the end of this empire at the end of World War I, Hungary lost a lot of territory. There were the caves of the romanian Carpathians and the caves in Slovakia which were now gone. The central Hungarian country which remained was rather dull. Most of it was covered by the Pannonian Plain. The low gradient makes this pretty unsuitable for cave development, except some hills. And those are still quite interesting.

The country has numerous very well developed show caves, even more which offer cave trekking tours, and a few semi-wild caves which are traditionally visited by hikers. It is the only country with several show caves in the middle of the capital city. Exceptional are the cave corals in Rákóczi-barlang and the thermal karst around Lake Balaton.

Located in the middle of Europe the country is part of the EU and Schengen, so except for a crisis like fugitives or Corona, the borders are open. Unfortunately the country did not participate in the Euro, so they still have their own currency called Forint. So you always have to have both currencies with you. There might be the possibility to pay in Euro, but normally its more expensive.

The country depended on western tourism since the 1970s or 80s. It was the only country of the Warsaw Pact which was open to western tourists, and many spent their holidays in Hungary, because it was extremely cheap. Some even bought a house and lived there for years. Currently, the land has become rightist, unfortunately. The Europeans are quite concerned because they ignore basic European laws and introduce contrary local laws. For example, they made a quite controversial anti-homosexual law, which caused some uproar. Nevertheless, travelling in the country is save, the people are friendly, its not as cheap as it was but the prices are affordable.